The Slave
by Kevin the Tree Hugger
Summary: 100 years ago, a girl a girl named Yae served one of the Air Nomad elders. Aang and Keoko find her and help plan her escape.


**The Slave  
**

105 years ago, there lived a girl named Yae, who lived in the Northern Water Tribe with her father and older brother.Yae was close to mastering waterbending

at age 8, and loved spending her time training, making up new moves, and showing her friends. Then, one night her father recieved news that she was to be the avatar's

water bending teacher and should come to the Southern Air Temple immeadiatly. When her father refused, Air Nomad soldiers came back to the North Pole and

kidnapped Yae without warning. But she was being used for more than a teacher. She was serving Monk Shiyou, and old, grumpy, and demanding airbending

elder. Now she looks for a way to escape back to her home town, but she'll need help to get out unnoticed. But with such good friends, will she wan't to leave? And what will happen to she and her friends when Monk Shiyou finds out what's going on?

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Yae stared out her window to see the high mountain peaks concealing the Southern Air Temple. She wondered about her family, she had not seen them since the night

before she was taken by the Nomad soldiers. Yae wondered if they had been attacked when she was taken. Mostly, she tried planning her escape. Monk Shiyou only left the castle so often, and it was only during the daytime. If one of the gaurds caught her, she would get whipped violently, which was Shiyou's normal punishment. Yae would

have to- "YAE! YOU WERE DUE TO GROOM THE BISON 5 MINUTES AGO!", shouted Shiyou. Yae glared, but obeyed his demand. 5 years of torture had made her weary

of Air Nomads, and she hardly ever spoke to anyone anymore. She walked out to the stalls and brushed Ogato's think fur. She loved the bison, they we're such wonderful and gigantic animlas. Yae looked out the stall window towards the East Wall, where many Nomad children gathered to play. "They look so happy..." thought Yae. Ogato grunted. Yae was so deep in thought she had brushed one spot too roughly."Sorry, buddy". The barn door opened and two boys walked in. Yae jumped and ducked behind Ogato.

"..and I swear, it was like, THIS big! It was amazing!". One child was bald with a tatoo going down his head, neck, and arms, the other and brown messy hair and freckles.

Yae watched them from Ogato's neck. The brown-haired boy continued to talk to the other. "And it was brown, black...and...and BLUE!". "That's great Keoko.." said the bald

child, who seemed to be uninterested in Keoko's story. "C'mon, Aang! doesn't it sound AWESOME?", "Yeah, I...geuss...". Yae shifted uncomfortably. "Hey - did you hear that?" asked Keoko. Aang looked over to Ogato. "Oh, it's only you!" Aang said playfully. Yae realized he was speaking to Ogato, and panicked. There was nowhere to hide.

"_Aw, crud_...", thought Yae as the boys went into Ogato's stall.

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As Aang and Keoko played around with Ogato, Yae shifted around the animal trying to avoid being seen. This continued for twenty minutes. If she didn't get back soon, Shiyou would make her skip dinner (not that he fed her much anyway). She decided to make a run for it. They wouldn't see her if she ran fast enough. She counted in her head _'three.two..o-" _"Hey- who are you?"

"_CRAP.." _Yae ran out, going as fast as she could go with an injured ankle. She fell twice, but got up immeadiatly when she saw Aang and Keoko following close behind. "Wait up!" "Come back!" Aang stopped as soon as he noticed the way she was running. Yae continued trip, run, and trip again yelping in pain every time she fell over. Yae's ankle was severely injured after a bison stepped on her while she was feeding it. Yae made it into the castle and shut the door tight. '_That was...' _"YOU'RE LATE..." Yae gulped when she saw Shiyou standing in the doorway...a whip in hand.

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Aang stopped to catch his breath. "Keoko... isn't that Master Shiyou's castle?" "Why would _anyone _want to hide in there? It's so... NOT GOOD looking..." Aang realized he knew the girl from somewhere. " She looked familiar though.. The elders wanted her for something". Aang and Keoko jumped when they heard a scream come from the castle. That's when Aang knew they wanted her for more than to be his teacher.


End file.
